Windows XP Web Page User Interface
Windows XP was designed around the idea of enabling three kinds of user-experiences on the Web. For its time, the Windows XP User Interface offered a revolutionary Web view that blurred the distinction between surfing the Web and using your personal computer.
While users can turn off Windows XP Web view of your personal computer by selecting the Classic Windows view of Windows 95, you would be missing out on how the Microsoft designers intended for users to experience their operating system.
Windows XP first appeared for sale in 2001. Microsoft has annouced that it will be supporting Windows XP SP3 until 2014. So, there is nothing obsolete about the most commonly used personal computer operating system on the market today. The XP in Windows XP actual stands for the targeting of three different types of user eXPeriences: music, videos, and photography or imaging; as well as the entire online experience.
Explorer.exe Was Built Into Windows XP
The entire visual interface of Windows XP centers around explorer.exe which was built into the operating system by the Microsoft designers. The new user interface was designed to look exactly like the Internet Explorer version 6 web browser. This actually was a strong selling point of Windows XP, back in 2001. As a result, much of the Windows XP visual display user interface strongly resembles a web page with the Help and Support Center bearing the strongest resemblance. The Windows XP help facility actually has a navigation bar on it that comes complete with a home page icon that came straight out of the Internet Explorer version 6 web browser.
Windows XP integrates users eXPeriences with their computer
Novice computer users actually have a hard time figuring out exactly what they are looking at in Windows XP. This blurred Web experience was actually built into Windows XP by Microsoft by design. Clicking on either My Computer or the My Documents icons displays a window with two panes in it. The left pane always displays commonly used tasks, which duplicate short cut menus that can be displayed with the right mouse button, which are appropriately connected to what is being displayed and highlighted in the right pane. The right pane usually lists out folders and files that can be displayed with many different options, but sometimes looks more like a web page complete with hyperlinks.
Each of the default My Documents: My Music, My Videos, and My Pictures folders are not just another file directory on a computer. Users are supposed to put all of their user data somewhere within the My Documents filing hierarchy. So users are advised not to fight using My Documents. It is there for a reason. Further, the respective types of documents should always be stored in the appropriate My Music, My Videos, and My Pictures folders because they will automatically be displayed in a manner that will enhance their intended use by Windows XP.
